336 LARGE GAME. chap. vii. 



dangerous one if you are not up to it. As they emerge 

 from the hole they turn a somersault on to the back of it, 

 instead of coming straight out like an ordinary animal, 

 and as that is just the spot where one would naturally 

 stand, more than one man has had his legs ripped open 

 before he learned wisdom of experience. 



On only one occasion did I receive any damage, and it 

 was from the largest boar, though not the best tusker, 

 that I ever saw. I had only a couple of dogs with me — 

 indeed, I was not out hunting, but was merely going 

 down to bathe in the river, and in lieu of a gun, the 

 usual walking-stick of wild life, I had taken a spear as 

 being lighter, and the dogs had come of their own accord. 

 Just as I reached the top of the steep bank which over- 

 hung the alluvial flat through which the river ran, I 

 heard the rhinoceros-birds chirping below me; and catch- 

 ing my dogs, I peered through the evergreens to see what 

 particular species of game they were relieving from the 

 ticks that infest them all. It was an immense boar of 

 such unusual size that for the first second I mistook it 

 for a rhinoceros-calf, and was looking about for the mother ; 

 but my dogs knew better as the breeze brought up the 

 rich scent, and escaping from me they rushed down full 

 tilt at him. Anything more cool than his behaviour could 

 hardly be imagined. He threw his head up with a grunt, 

 and looked at the advancing dogs, then, curling his tail 

 into a corkscrew above his stern, trotted off for a few 

 yards, and as they overtook him, turned round, and faced 

 them. " Leauw," a great yellow dog, so called from his 

 size and resemblance to a lion, but too rash for pig, went 

 straight at his head ; the boar gave himself what seemed 



